“Google said Monday it is ‘actively investigating’ reports of its Pixel 2 XL smartphone experiencing problems with its touchscreen,” Brett Molina reports for USA Today. “Multiple tech reviewers from sites including The Verge and Android Central have reported seeing what they believe is screen burn-in, a phenomenon where portions of the screen are permanently discolored.”

“USA Today noticed display disparities from one Pixel 2 XL review unit to another, but not was able to replicate the burn-in problem,” Molina reports. “In a statement, Google said it is ‘actively investigating’ the claims… In most cases, burn-in happens on a display after owners have used their devices for several years. If burn-in is the confirmed issue with Google’s Pixel 2 XL smartphone, released just this month, it would represent a much larger problem.”

I am no fan of Google – far from it. But I value unbiased facts and analyses. Is that truly “burn-in,” or is it simply the ghost of the control bar appearing during a display refresh cycle? If the buttons use a white background for visibility then it will take time for the charged OLEDs to fade to darkness and blend in fully with the rest of the background. I don’t know what the display refresh rate is, but 60 Hz (16.7 ms) seems like a reasonable guess. if the display is halfway through a refresh (which appears to be the case), then perhaps 8.3 ms has elapsed. What is the relaxation time for the OLED pixels?

My speculation could be total bunk. But I wanted to offer a different explanation as a possibility. To date, all that I have seen is that image combined with “burn-in,” and it really doesn’t make sense for it to be burn-in.

Even the effort to articulate Pixel as anything like competition for iPhone imposes a tough cost of journalistic dishonesty. Not only is it slower, the tech older, and the quantity smaller, but the build quality is lower and the displays are not Tier 1 (they may be bright, but they are not premium, so subject to faults).
At least, this is how I see it. I could be wrong, But I’d bet a dollar I am not.

This phone uses the LG OLED screens if I am not mistaken. Goes to show why Apple sourced Samsung. The consensus is that Samsung makes the highest quality phone size OLED screens right now. It’s odd because for large screen TVs, the consensus is the opposite: LG’s OLED screens are better than Samsung’s. Hopefully LG will get its small screen OLED process down soon, because the the world needs an alternative to Samsung, especially Apple.